Totten Ford Bridge

Information and Findings From DHPA Historic Bridge Survey

Bridge History and Significance

The Crawford county council appropriated $3,500.00 for this bridge in September 1916. A notation in the Board minutes mentions advertising for "fill at bridge at Totten Ford" on 5 December 1916. In 1953, the Board ordered the auditor to advertise for repairs to the Totten Ford Bridge and a contract was let to J. T. Force of Shoals, Indiana, for the sum of $7,000.00. Harrison and Crawford counties likely shared the cost but exact amounts were not included in the record. -John Warner, M&H Seated upon concrete abutments and wingwalls, the pin-connected Parker through-trusses are subdivided into nine panels by laced channel verticals and a top chord separately angled for each panel. Unlike most Parkers, every panel beyond endposts uses cylindrical eyebars with turnbuckles as counters which are doubled and crossed in the central panel. Double die-forged eyebars installed from the outer top pin in a panel to the inner lower one provide the other and more regular diagonals. I floor-beams are bolted to the pin-plates below the lower chord. They carry runs of steel stringers and a steel-grate deck--which replaced the original concrete one in 1995. The structure has 17 feet of vertical clearance over the roadway. Other than for the heavy use of diagonal counters, this truss appears quite representative of standard pin-connected Parkers. It retains its original members including its decoratively latticed portals. References AECON, Inc., Bridge Inventory and Inspection Report: Crawford County (Nashville, 1973). MW, Inc. Harrison County Bridge Inspection/Reinspection Report (Indianapolis, 1974, 1979). Simpson Engineering Corp., Bridge Reinspection Report: Crawford County (Indianapolis, 1980). WTH Engineering, Crawford County Bridge Reinspection Report (Indianapolis, 2001). Indiana Historic Sites & Structures Inventory, Harrison County: Interim Report (Indianapolis, 1987) 6-7.

Bridge Considered Historic By Survey: Yes